Monday, March 09, 2009

Flash Facts: Meteoric Velocities

"Meteors with velocities up to twenty-six miles per second are members of our solar system; those with greater velocities are merely passing through our solar system from interstellar space."

Illustration: "Mean altitudes at which meteors appear and disappear. A) Upper limit of the atmospheric layer whose illumination causes twilight. B) Beginning of the stratosphere."

Issue: The Flash #208 (August 1971)

2 comments:

Mad Mac Genius said...

That's what I loved about Barry's run in the Flash, the inclusion of brief, scientific facts and stats that had relevance to the story that was being told. It made the tale more plausible and Barry's adventures a bit more believable.

Dixon said...

Quite right. This truly was one of the defining characteristics of The Flash throughout the Silver Age, and it set the book apart from other superhero series. Even if the science on display wasn't always feasible or the least bit realistic, there was always an attempt made to maintain that sense of science in the storytelling, that scientific rationale. It's just one of the many reasons I love the scarlet speedster and his adventures.